#In three more years I'll be required to wear a track suit when I mall walk

[trivialbob]

I'm happy over a simple shirt I bought yesterday.

Feeling a need to walk, but tired of being cold, I went to the Mall of America. Some say it's about a mile to walk one loop inside the mall. After I strolled all three main levels my Garmin came up with 2.6 miles. It's a little wonky using the GPS indoors, so I'm not making any guarantees.

People watching is excellent. This has got to be the most diverse place in Minnesota. I heard English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian (?), Japanese, and more. People are in all shapes, sizes, political persuasions, gender identities, colors, attitudes, and manner of dress. The huge mall is next to the airport, and Minnesota doesn't charge sales tax on clothes, so I've heard the place gets plenty of out of state shoppers.

Does your bingo card have an ex football player with purple hair? Wait, is that the ex football player with purple hair in a wheelchair or the ex football player with purple hair shuffling along in a silky track suit? How about a cute young mom with three adorable children? Well, yes, but do you want the one with three girls, or three boys, or two girls and one boy? Because they are all there.

I like that I didn't see any of those silly, virtue signalling signs declaring All Are Welcome Here or We Respect All People. Those signs are not necessary because it just happens. All these different people all got along without placards telling them to.

Sure, I wanted to holler at a parent with a triple stroller (filled with three adorable children, two boys and one girl - BINGO!). She had stopped in the middle of a busy hallway to read her phone, causing chaos like Prius dawdling in the left lane of a busy highway.

But I wiggled around them quietly, as did other walkers and shoppers, and went on my way. Also I really can't complain because 25 years ago I was a parent with a double stroller (reasonably looking dad, two boys), taking winter walks there with my young kids. Surely I had been in someone's way.

At Old Navy I decided to go inside. Prices at my once-beloved LL Bean have exited my comfort zone. I also wasn't pleased with the quality of the last three items I purchased there. Eddie Bauer prices are high too ($85 for jeans? Please!) but EB at least has perennial steep discounts. Though I rarely shop Old Navy, I've always had a good experience there.

This long-sleeve tech shirt was marked at $22 (not bad) and just $11.50 (whoo hoo!) after the always-available Old Navy sale price. It was sort of a two-for-one in that I love how it looks and feels AND I didn't spend much money. I'll be back.

All my other tech shirts are from races. They're comfortable for exercising or sleeping on cold nights, but I'm not a fan of the graphics on some of them. Displaying "2016 Twin Cities Marathon" is okay with me, but I don't care for the word "Finisher" on the shirts. It looks odd to me, no better than "Participant" or "I did this." At least that one didn't have "Finished in 16,422nd Place."